Singaporean boss in Rangers bid: reports

The Singaporean boss of a local football club is behind one of four bids for cash-strapped Scottish champions Rangers, media reports said on Friday.

Written by Agence-France Presse

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Singapore:

The Singaporean boss of a local football club is behind one of four bids for cash-strapped Scottish champions Rangers, media reports said on Friday.

Bill Ng, the chairman of Hougang United, told media he is leading a Singapore-based consortium that hopes to be the winning bid for the Glasgow giants.

Administrators have received four bids for the venerable 140-year-old club including one fronted by former Rangers director Paul Murray and from groups based in Singapore, Germany and the United States.

The administrators said Thursday they would consider three of the four bids submitted.

"The weakness lies in the people who run the club and I feel that we can do something better," Ng was quoted as saying by the New Paper.

Neither Ng nor staff at his Singapore club were available to confirm the bid when calls were made to Hougang United by AFP.

The New Paper said Ng's group likely submitted a bid of around 20 million pounds ($31.7 million) for Rangers and the bulk of the money would be used for paying off its creditors.

The bid by Ng's Singapore-based consortium marks the second time investors from the wealthy city-state have attempted to buy a British football club.

Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim in 2010 attempted unsuccessfully to buy English football club Liverpool for 320 million pounds.

Administrators were called in to Rangers on February 14 after British tax authorities went to court to seek payment of an unpaid bill of 9 million pounds ($14m) built up since owner Craig Whyte took charge at Ibrox in May.

Administration is the process whereby a company that cannot pay its debts calls upon independent expert financial help in a bid to remain operational.